Chiropractor, Massage & Pain Relief

Anti-inflammatories for low back pain?

Back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world and many patients presenting to their doctor are prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen to treat the complaint. New medical research seems to indicate that this treatment is ineffective. The research, which was conducted in Australia, has determined that for every six patients treated with anti-inflammatory drugs only one will achieve a clinically important benefit in the short term. Furthermore, the same researchers found that anti-inflammatories increase the risk of gastrointestinal side effects such as stomach ulcers and bleeding. The same institute that released these results has previously found that paracetamol is similarly ineffective in the treatment of back pain.

There was some interesting quotes from the researchers:

“…..it is now clear that the three most widely used, and guideline-recommended medicines for spinal pain do not provide clinically important effects over placebo,”

“Millions of Australians are taking drugs that not only don’t work very well, they’re causing harm,”